Migration and modernisation of equipment to higher technologies will happen, which will have a direct or indirect positive impact on us.Gulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | Updated: November 16, 2015, 11:20 IST

Migration and modernisation of equipment to higher technologies will happen, which will have a direct or indirect positive impact on us.Telecom network provider Nokiaexpects mobile phone operators in India to ink intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements on LTE bandwidths as they move to expand their 4G footprint. In an interview with ET’s Gulveen Aulakh, Amit Marwah, head of technology for India region at Nokia, said growth for companies in the sector will be driven by growth in the consumption of data. Edited excerpts:

Are falling prices of 4G devices a trigger for users to take up 4G services?

That’s an extremely important trigger for a market like India. The other very important factor is not to price 4G (services) at a differential (to 3G services). Another trigger is either to give ubiquitous coverage on 4G network or fill it up by having a fallback mechanism on broadband. Lastly, bundle data for first-time users.

When do you think operators will have their own 3G and 4G bandwidths pan-India?

One of the top three or four operators is pan-India in 3G, save one circle, if you include 3G on 2100 MHz and 900 MHz. The others have a small way to go — they have some four or five circles to cover, which they’re covering through ICR. In the next auction, we understand three spots of 2100 MHz will come up. So, the potential of becoming pan-India for 3G is almost real, as early as next year. On 4G, you need 5 MHz of contiguous spectrum, and you need to either buy additional spectrum, which may not be available, so you need to refarm the spectrum from 2G to 4G, which is 1800 MHz or 850 MHz or any other. Those refarming possibilities are right now limited, so that’s why you have an erratic footprint of (4G) LTE on 1800 MHz across operators. So, like in 3G, concepts of 4G ICR may become reality in the future in order to build that footprint till the time 3G traffic reduces.

What’s your take on 700 MHz being put on sale in the next auction?

700 MHz is one of the so-called LTE Golden Bands because of the propagation characteristics and that it doesn’t have any legacy issues, which therefore, enables higher technology without the need of refarming. Also, the chunk of spectrum is reasonably large — globally it’s 45 MHz and in India it could be 30 MHz. So, 700 MHz, in combination with 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz, or 2100 MHz, which is evolving as an LTE band, could make a very good combination of coverage and capacity, especially for indoor penetration, rural penetration and broadband to the home.

What is the outlook for the network provider industry in terms of business opportunity?

Things are looking positive, compared to the uncertainties seen in the last three years or so. Migration and modernisation of equipment to higher technologies will happen, which will have a direct or indirect positive impact on us.

Separately, RCom initiated contempt proceedings in the apex court against the Department of Telecommunications, blaming it for delaying a spectrum sale that would have enabled dues to be paid to Ericsson and lenders.